On birthin' babies

Ever since being there for Anise's birth a few weeks ago, I have wanted to attend another birth. I told Sarah (my midwife friend here in Jacmel) and she called me last night at midnight to let me know she had a woman in labor who was already at 5cm if I wanted to tag along. I woke right up and off we went into the night.

We arrive at the house-- a very modest 2 room house that doubles as a street-front "store" where they sell various dried/canned goods. It was there we'd spend the next 15 hours with this woman, her aunt, and occasionally her husband. Sometimes he'd stop in to "help" but he mostly didn't want to be around. It was a long and tiring night. Finally, at around 2:15 PM the next day, the baby arrived. A healthy and beautiful baby girl. Both mama and baby are doing great last I heard before going to bed at 6:30 last night. (I was a little tired.)

Here's the thing I have been thinking about. Birth is kind of a disgusting process. There is every bodily fluid you can imagine-- blood, sweat, tears, amniotic fluid, cervical mucus, pee, vomit, poop, (and as Sarah mentioned) semen, though indirectly. :) It's really, really messy. When I say you deal with these fluids, I mean in ALARMING quantities at times. And it can be a bit scary. And painful. And gross. And for most people, a true endurance activity.

But it's so worth it. Look at this picture. It's SO worth it.

It was with those thoughts in my mind that I ran across THIS BLOGPOST that Troy Livesay had linked to on his facebook. Wow. My world is officially rocked.